Homeschooling In the News

Well, all of my message boards have gone crazy lately, because of a CBS special aired regarding Homeschools and abuse. I myself have written an e-mail to CBS regarding their shoddy journalism. I expected more from such a reputable news network. One of the journalists from CBS flatly told a leader of the NCHE (North Carolina Home Educators) that he wouldn't like the report as it's goal was to increase state and federal regulation of homeschooling.

It is incredibly frustrating that so many people in the United States believe parents to be unfit to raise their own children. Apparently I can choose what clothes they wear and what food they eat, but I cannot decide how they are to be educated unless it falls within the very narrow idea of education in this country. My son learned to read in less than three months! His writing is improving daily, and I'm certain it's above the level of most of his PS counterparts. I'm not trying to put down PS, but homeschooling is a fantastic option!

To try and create a link between homeschooling and child abuse is absurd, and will give people the wrong idea. Most of us chose to homeschool our children to remove some of the daily abuse that occurs in the school system. We want our children focused on family and learning. I see absolutely no evidence presented in the report that would show that abuse is any more likely in a homeshooling environment. The CBS report brought up the case of a young man who killed his siblings and then himself. Well, as one letter from a HS organization stated, filicide has always existed, and with the rise of homeschooling, filicide has not increased. In fact filicide decreased! What about the PS kids who commit suicide or kill others? Is that related to them being in school? Or is it related to a variety of factors? I think it's the latter.

I'm sure there are a handful of bad apples in the HS community as there are everywhere. I don't believe that I should be penalized, or my home intruded upon because of them. The truth is that most of the abuse cases had already been reported to the authorities, who are overworked and underpaid and incapable of meeting the demands of their offices. Maybe we should start reform there. As a matter of fact, my homeschool is saving the state about $2000 which it would have spent on Reagan in school. Give that money to Child Protective Services. Let's see what good they can do with it.

Parents who abuse their kids and send them to school are probably more common than homeschooling abusers. The CBS report wants background checks for HS parents. Come on, are we supposed to do that before or after we give birth? And if a parent doesn't pass do they just have to send their kid to school? I tend to think that the report was totally off the mark. And it will be a long time before I put my trust in CBS again.